Massage Your Troubles Away; Chase Away Tension With A Therapeutic Massage
By: John E. Aho - West Oakland County's Insider Business Journal

From typists to truck drivers, more people are finding that a massage can bring physical and mental relief.

Where to find a Massage Therapist

When looking for a massage therapist, ask if the practitioner has certification in therapeutic massage and bodywork from the National Certification Board. To get certification, therapists must pass a test of competency, ethics and practice standards.

* Salone Nadwa, 43236 11 Mile in the Novi Town Center, Novi; (248) 348-7316. The salon offers nine kinds of massages from prenatal to deep tissue. Prices range from $375 for a full day of pampering to $25 for 15 minutes of chair massage.

When K. Elliott Thompson opened Parkstone Therapuetic Touch Clinic in 1986, few people knew what a professional massage was about.

"I'd go to high society parties, say what I did for a living and the wife would look distressed and the husband ask a bunch of questions," Thompson recalls with a laugh.

Outside of athletes and actresses, most people figured massage was sexual, not a structured, hands-on approach to healing.

Today, everyone from typists with aching arms to truck drivers with sore backs regularly undergo massage therapy. Thompson, who closed his Detroit -based clinic in 1995, now travels to client's homes in South Beach, Fla., Manhattan and Detroit on a rotating basis.

You can find therapists in health spas, beauty salons, gyms, tanning salons, resorts, rehabilitation centers, chiropractic clinics, golf clubs, even hospitals.

Recent studies have shown that in addition to relieving pain, massage therapy can reduce heart rate, lower blood pressure, increase circulation, improve range of motion and increase endorphins, which speed healing, according to the American Massage Therapy Association.

Throughout Michigan, clients are clamoring for therapeutic massage. Nadwa Yono, owner of Salone Nadwa and Day Spa in Novi, is knocking out a wall of her 5,000-square-foot facility to add more rooms to the two she has.

"It's not about pampering. People need to have someone knowledgeable to touch their body and relieve their tension," she says.

Even the medical community recognizes the benefits of massage therapy. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan announced this month it would extend a 20-percent discount on therapeutic massages to its members who purchase health-care services through Naturally Blue, a holistic network of certified practitioners.

What would happen if a therapist took sexual, advantage of a client?

"That individual would be fired instantly if we heard about it," says Yono, owner of Salone Nadwa. By the same token, therapists are told to contact the owner or manager if a client makes sexual advances.

"We have a firm policy prohibiting that kind of behavior," Yono says. "The client isn't allowed to come back to the salon."